Middle English leisir, from Anglo-Normanleisir, variant of Old French loisir (“to enjoy oneself") (Modern French loisir survives as a noun), substantive use of a verb, from LatinlicÄ“re. Displaced native Middle English lethe (“leisure") (from Old English liÃ¾ian "to unloose, release", compare Old English lÄ«Ã¾ung "permission"), Middle English tom, toom "leisure" (from Old Norse tÅm "leisure, ease", compare Old English tÅm "free from").

Sentence Examples

His leisure time was given up to natural history, and especially to mineralogy and botany.

Her chief amusement during her leisure hours was sweeping the heavens with a small Newtonian telescope.

There young Parkman spent his leisure hours in collecting eggs, insects and reptiles, trapping squirrels and woodchucks, and shooting birds with arrows.

The effects of a bite by a poisonous snake upon a small mammal or bird are almost instantaneous, preventing its escape; and the snake swallows its victim at its leisure, sometimes hours after it has been killed.